Stefano Camogli - The discovery of Cyrus with the dog

Stefano Camogli, called 'Il Camoglino' (

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, c. 1610 – Genoa, 1690/1709) was a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

painter of still lifes, animals and market and pantry scenes. He also painted small history paintings. Stefano Camogli, ''Still life with monkey, basin and stagnara''] at ART Casa d'Aste He was a regular collaborator of

Domenico Piola Domenico Piola (1627 – 8 April 1703) was a Genoese painter of the Baroque period. He was the leading artist in Genoa in the second half of the 17th century, working on ceiling frescoes for many Genoese churches and palaces and canvas paintin ...

who was his brother-in-law.Stefano Camogli
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

Life

Little is known about Camogli’s early life. His exact date of birth is not recorded. Camogli was an apprentice of Jan Roos, a Flemish painter who resided in Genoa where he had made a name for himself in and married a local woman. Jan Roos had been a pupil of

Frans Snyders Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders (11November 157919August 1657) was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes, and still lifes. A versatile artist, his works depict all sorts of foods, utensils, and tableware and wide assortment ...

and specialized in

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

s and market scenes. Roos operated a large workshop where he had many assistants including Giacomo Legi, another Flemish still life painter. Domenico Piola and Stefano Camogli - Allegory of peace and abundance

Domenico Piola and Stefano Camogli - Allegory of peace and abundance

Genoa was at the time a thriving port city where a large number of potential patrons and collectors lived. There was a large colony of Flemish artists who resided in or passed through the city and relied on the network of established Flemish artists and traders to find patrons and commissions.Anversa & Genova: een hoogtepunt in de barokschilderkunst
These Flemish artists who included

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...

had an important influence on the development of genre art in the city. Camogli married Angiola Piola. He later became the first teacher of Domenico Piola who was 17 years his junior. Camogli and Domenico Piola became frequent collaborators on compositions. He worked for aristocratic patrons as well as Englishmen on their Grand Tour.Stefano Camogli
at San Marco Casa d'aste S.p.A., Paintings, Furnitures, Jewelry, Laces, 18 December 2008 Lot 2034

Work

Stefano Camogli - Flowerpot with peonies and irises

Stefano Camogli was a master of flower painting, still lifes of fruit and animals, which he depicted very truthfully. He also painted

genre paintings Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity c ...

of pantries and markets in a style inspired by his teacher Jan Roos.Anna Orlando, a cura di, Barocco ligure e piemontese. Opere scelte dalle collezioni private. catalogo della mostra di Alessandria, Linealab, Alessandria 2015 Like his master Roos, Camogli was also capable of painting the human figure as is shown in a set of

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...

s attributed to him. His works are characterized by their careful observation, brilliant color schemes, softness of touch and the minute attention to detail. He was particularly skilled in depicting animals in an expressive and realistic manner. He likely had access to the series of drawings of animals by the Italian animal painter Sinibaldo Scorza which was present in his brother in law

's workshop. Camogli's work was also influenced by Giacomo Legi, another Flemish artist who also trained and worked in the Roos workshop in Genoa. Legi's work ''A market scene'' was cited directly in a composition referred to as ''The Market'' (Genoa private collection) executed by the young

with the collaboration of Stefano Camogli.Giacomo Legi (Liège 1600 – 1640 Milan), ''A market scene''
at Dorotheum Camogli and Piola were regular collaborators on compositions in which Camogli was responsible for the still life elements and Piola for the figures. Examples are the ''Allegory of Summer'' (Collection Torriglia Chiavari, Palazzo Rocca) and the ''Allegory of Peace and Abundance'' (Private collection). Camogli also collaborated as a flower and still life painter on compositions with his master Jan Roos, particularly in the 1630s.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camogli, Stefano 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Baroque painters Painters from Genoa Italian still life painters